As a City Councillor I was pleased to find this morning that the City of Wolverhampton had some great success last night at the Municipal Journal Awards. I am going therefore to share the correspondence I received this morning from the Managing Director – It is good news, and I want to with Mary and Rita to add our congratulations!
The City as an Authority has gone through a tough few years. Indications are that the next few will be equally as tough! But this little oasis of good news, is very welcome. Well done our City Staff and the Councillors and Officers that have, and still are driving this City forward. Well done everyone I feel just that little bit prouder of Wolverhampton.
Here is the good news correspondence from MD Keith Ireland-
“ The Leader and I are pleased to announce that the City of Wolverhampton Council is celebrating success after its ongoing transformation was recognised at the Municipal Journal (MJ) awards ceremony in London last night (17 June). We picked up the award for Best Council Service for our leisure brand WV Active and we were a highly commended runner up in the prestigious and strongly contested Local Authority of the Year category.
We were also finalists in three other categories: Delivering Better Outcomes for its ground-breaking HeadStart programme, Innovation in Partnership for its work on The Way Youth Zone with city partners and best legal services.”
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Roger Lawrence, released this statement: “I’m delighted that the council’s ongoing transformation has been recognised in this way. We were rigorously assessed against our peers and there were over 500 entries across the 17 categories.
“Despite the very difficult financial challenges we face, we’re determined to think differently about what we do and focus on delivering the best customer service possible.
“We also want to be innovative – like countless generations of Wulfrunians who went before us – and I think the judges recognised this.
“WV Active is a great example. Our commercialisation of the service is improving the offer for customers and memberships have shot up. We have also cut costs from £2 million a year to £500,000.
“That we received these two fantastic accolades and were recognised in three other categories is a testament to the hard work, dedication and support of our employees, our partners and our communities.”
Let me just say, I’m really proud of the hard work colleagues and councillors have put into making our success and it shows the huge strides we have made on our transformation journey. The night was a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of the City of Wolverhampton and to demonstrate that we are a confident, capable council. “
